The man accusing director Bryan Singer of sexual abuse in a federal lawsuit held a press conference Thursday in Los Angeles, describing the “nightmare” he underwent when he was allegedly raped by Singer and several other men in Los Angeles, Hawaii and other states over the span of two years when he was a teen.
“I was raped numerous times in that house, by numerous individuals,” said the plaintiff, Michael F. Egan III. “You were like a piece of meat to these people.”
Egan, who attended the conference with his lawyer Jeff Herman, said that he was sexually abused by the X-Men director beginning at age 15 through age 17. The alleged conduct that took place included rape, other physical force and forced intoxication with cocaine, taking place amid “sordid parties,” according to the highly graphic lawsuit.
After the lawsuit was filed Wednesday, Singer’s attorney Marty Singer released the following statement: “The claims made against Bryan Singer are completely without merit. We are very confident that Bryan will be vindicated in this absurd and defamatory lawsuit.”
“It is obvious that this case was filed in an attempt to get publicity at the time when Bryan’s new movie (X-Men: Days of Future Past) is about to open in a few weeks,” he said.
Fox, which releases Days of Future Past on May 23, issued a statement, saying, “These are serious allegations, and they will be resolved in the appropriate forum. This is a personal matter, which Bryan Singer and his representatives are addressing separately.”
STORY: Director Bryan Singer Accused of Sexually Abusing 17-Year-Old Boy in 1999
Egan, who is now 31, told the press that he and his mother had met with both LAPD and FBI officials when he was 17 to report the crimes, but that “it basically fell on deaf ears.”
He said he turned to drinking for several years, but in the past 11 months he has been sober and undergoing trauma therapy.
“I can stand in front of you all today and say I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse,” he said.
Egan moved as a teen from the Midwest to Los Angeles with his family in hopes of furthering his acting career. According to the suit, the Los Angeles parties were held at a mansion in Encino called the M & C Estate, whose residents were Marc Collins-Rector and Chad Shackley. The complaint asserts that Collins-Rector sexually abused Egan and threatened him with a gun, but does not name him as a defendant.
VIDEO: Bryan Singer Explains Why He Got Involved in ‘Future Past’
“If I could define what that house was — it was evil,” said Egan.
Speaking about the parties in Encino, Egan, who said his dreams of becoming an actor faded after the alleged sexual abuse, said that there was a “no swimsuit” rule at the pool and hot tub, where Singer and other men allegedly demanded sexual acts be performed on them.
“We can look at it a lot differently as adults,” said Egan. “But when you have a gun put in your mouth and you believe that they’ll pull the trigger on you at any time, do you not listen to what they are telling you to do?”
Egan emphasized that Singer and the other men threatened not only him, but also his family.
“They said, ‘If you don’t keep the members of this group happy, we control Hollywood. We can eliminate you, we will eliminate you,'” he said. “It was threat after threat after threat.”
The alleged sexual abuse in Hawaii took place at the Paul Mitchell estate. The suit says that Singer supplied Egan with drugs and alcohol, forced him to inhale cocaine, pushed Egan into a swimming pool, later held his head underwater, and repeatedly raped him. These were combined, the suit says, with threats, as well as with promises of jobs on Singer’s films.
Herman said the suit was filed in Hawaii because of a window, which expires on April 24, allowing cases that would have been blocked under the statute of limitations to be filed. Herman said he has several other lawsuits that he plans to file in the coming days and weeks.
Click here to read the full legal complaint.
E-mail: Rebecca.Ford@THR.com
Twitter: @Beccamford
